Woman Delivers ‘Stone Baby’ After 60 Year Pregnancy

In a bizarre turn of events straight out of Mr. Ripley’s personal files, comes this true story of a 92-year-old woman who delivered a child (albeit not a live baby) she had been carrying for over half a century! (Long pregnancies are one thing, but THAT is ridiculous!)

Huang Yijun, aged 92, is from southern China and she recently made news after delivering a baby known as a lithopedion, aka ‘Stone Baby’.

Huang Yijun told the press she didn’t have the money to have her fetus removed after doctors told her it had died inside her in 1948.

So she simply did nothing at all about it.

Lithopedion is a very rare medical phenomenon, which occurs when a pregnancy fails and the fetus actually calcifies while still in the mother’s body.

Medically speaking, what often happens is the implanted fetus gets to an advanced stage before it dies. Too large to be absorbed by the body, the remains of the child or its surrounding amniotic sac slowly calcify, turning to stone as a way to protect the woman’s body from infection from the decomposing tissue.

If no complications occur, believe it or not, the mother can basically just go on with her life.

According to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, only 290 cases of lithopedions have ever been documented by medical literature.

MDeeDubroff

M Dee Dubroff is the penname of this freelance writer and former teacher originally from Brooklyn, New York. A writer of ghostly and horror fiction, she has branched out into the world of humorous non fiction writing and maintains eight web sites covering a wide variety of topics. She also writes feature articles for several local newspapers.
Her book entitled: A Taste of Funny, and her website, Eat, Drink And Really Be Merry (http://www.ingestandimbibe.com) feature many well researched and humorous articles on the subject of food and drink.

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COUNT DUCK

May 2, 2009 at 5:41 pm

The condition was first described in a treatise by the physician Albucasis in the 10th century AD, but fewer than 300 cases have been noted in 400 years of medical literature. The earliest lithopedion is one found in an archaeological excavation, dated to 1100 BC.

How is she a stupid effing * Sarah? It was 1948 and she had no money to have the baby removed. Not everyone lives luxurious spoilt brat lives you know. I know you’re probably trying to be shocking but I fcking hate people like you.

Wow. Seriously, we’re spoiled when it comes to things like this… Americans have Planned Parenthood, Canadians have free health care. I can see how someone wouldn’t understand why a woman would have just done nothing.

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Thanks you all for your comments. I appreciate them and you are all entitled to your opinion, but could you pelease (some of you) refrain from using filthy language? It isn’t necessary to make your point and it only reflects badly on the user.

walk a mile in someones shoes you foolish person, you have no clue as to what life was like back then these people are the most rugged and durable in the world. give her your empathy understanding you philistine

"only 290 cases of lithopedions have ever been documented". In humans maybe! In other mammals it's not so rare: 2 months ago a lithopedion was surgically removed from an elephant's womb, where it had been sitting for nearly 2 years after the calf ought to have been born.

I saw a story (maybe this ladys) on TLC about this. Pregnant for 60 years.. or something like that. Not sure what it was called, but a similar story indeed. I feel bad that she didn't have the means to have it removed.. should have come to America — aliens get free healthcare here.

Are you kidding! Can we leave race out of this! Is that all ur focused on shows how mature you really are. White ppl aren’t the only culture to be spoiled I’m white and poor I don’t support sara’s beleifs but that is offensive grow up see past race its 2009. What year are you living in?

That is so sad, that poor lady must have been miserable – I hope she is ok now, and maybe passing it will be good for her body – I just can't imagine this happening in this day and age no one seen it in a xray or ultra sound – seems like the elderly all of the world have poor health care.

i think most of you are underaged here, first of all you should read first. 1. the doctor said that the baby died inside her. 2. she didnt had the money to remove the baby. and to golf blog. go to america? she dont even have enough money to remove a fetus, how the heck can she go to america. and PLUS its not free. you have to pay for health care. but i guess you dont know that cause youre still living with your parents o.O

in a way, some people do have "free" or perhaps a "socialized" form of healthcare in the united states. it's called the emergency room. this is through a process known as COST SHIFTING. Ever wonder why it costs $100 for an ace wrap at the emergency room? you cannot be refused emergency medical assistance on the grounds of inability to pay. So, hospitals end up millions of dollars in the hole. To compensate for this, they change insurance companies extra, and this is passed onto premium payers. So, in a way it's free for some, and others are left to pick up the bill.

anyway, i totall agree, that was a ridiculous statement, "go to america"? …… pshhh

that is really sad to think about, just how psychologically draining that would be, at least initially, to accept the death of the child you would never get to hold, to still have them physically so close, but never be able to enjoy sharing life with them.

"I don't care how poor you are" – you could have stopped there, that totally sums up the rest of your idiotic statement. Obviously you don't care, or know what it's like to be really dirt poor. No one in their right mind would leave a baby at that stage in their womb if they had any way at all of getting it removed. Grow up.

"stone babies" start out as ectopic pregnancies which are difficult surgeries even by modern standards. the baby becomes entwined with organs and the patient runs a high risk of bleeding to death or permanently damaging vital organs. do you honestly think she would have been able to afford such a complicated surgery? some americans can't afford to have important surgeries why would people in underdeveloped areas have these abilities.

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